The 2021 DTM season continues its course with its third round outside the German borders. The renewed championship under GT3 regulations lands at the red bull ring, a track liked by pilots. South African Kelvin Van der Linde defends lead after adding a victory and a retirement at the Nürburgring on a track where Spaniard Dani Juncadella knows what it’s like to win. His goal is to repeat the podium achieved two weeks ago in an event in which the DTM has reduced its grid to 20 GT3 vehicles. In this quote, the only guest is Maximilian Paul, with a Lamborghini from T3 Motorsport.
The fifth battle of the DTM in 2021 will take place at the Red Bull Ring circuit, a track located in the Austrian mountains. The route has a length of 4,318 meters and in its design it has six curves to the right and only three angles to the left. If there is something that defines the Red Bull Ring it is the enormous unevenness between the area of the home straight and the third corner, with slopes of 12% up to the third angle. Beyond this, it is a clue of heavy braking in its first sector and fast support corners in its second part, much to the liking of the riders.
On the sporting level, Kelvin Van der Linde has been the great protagonist of the DTM in its first half of the season. The South African driver has captured three wins in eight races, with an extra podium and a retirement. As a result of his superb performance behind the wheel of Team Abt Sportsline’s Audi # 3, Van der Linde leads with 129 points and manages a 33-point lead with Maximilian Götz. Two points behind the German is Marco Wittmann after his victory at the Nürburgring, while Alex Albon is the fourth classified. Liam Lawson is in fifth place.
Beyond the classification itself, several other drivers have left flashes of quality in the first four events of the season. Philip Ellis won a victory at Lausitzring, while Mike Rockenfeller has been a regular on the podium despite not climbing the highest step thereof. Even Dani Juncadella has managed to solve the problems that he has had at the controls of the Mercedes # 8 of GruppeM Racing to recover sensations and get on the podium at the Nürburgring. In fact, Juncadella occupies the tenth position of the championship with 43 points, one more than Sheldon Van der Linde, the leader’s brother.
Far from the grid that the DTM had at the Nürburgring with the presence of four invited drivers -Luca Stolz, Christian Klien, Hubert Haupt and Michael Ammermüller- and two non-regular drivers replacing Sophia Flörsch and Dev Gore, the fifth round of the contest features a more conventional entry list and close to what is usual. With everything, the championship will have up to 20 GT3 vehicles in this round since the 19 cars that compete on a regular basis A third Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo is added in the hands of the German Maximilian Paul within the T3 Motorsport team.